From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Ocean City senior Sophia Curtis put together a quick quad win Thursday at the Cape May County Championships, winning the long jump, triple jump and 400-meter hurdles and anchoring the winning 1.600-meter relay, all in under two hours.

Curtis won the intermediates in 1:02.04, the long jump with a season-best 17-4 – this was her first major meet long jumping since outdoor states last year – and the triple jump with a 39-1 ¾. She joined Grace Tedesco, freshman Carly Godfrey and Kai Linthicum to run 4:12.50 in the 4-by-4, anchoring in 59.21.

Curtis was state Group 3 champ last year and 6th-place finisher at West Philly Nationals in the intermediates and two-time Meet of Champions winner and 4th-place finisher in Boston Nationals in the triple jump.

Ocean City won the team title 167-73 over 2nd-place Middle Township, with Lower Cape May Regional 3rd with 58 points.

Ocean City junior Naomi Nnewihe put together an unusual and impressive triple, winning the 100 in 12.84, the 200 in 26.08 and the sho put with a 31-10 ¼.

Other Ocean City winners: Godfrey in the 400 [PR 59.69], junior Chloe Care in the 800 [PR 2:25.95], junior Maeve Smith in the 1,600 [5:16.12] and 3,200 [11:20.09], junior AnnaMaria Marczyk in the high hurdles [PR 16.68] and sophomore Callie Duff in the high jump [4-10].

For Middle Township, senior Camille Harris won the discus [97-0], sophomore Haylie Rowlands won the pole vault with a 7-6 clearance and freshman Allison Nagle won the javelin at 85-11.

The Ocean City boys won the team title 230-41 ½ over Middle Township.

Junior John Paul Forster tripled the high jump [5-4], long jump [PR 20-0 ¾] and triple jump [PR 40-2 ½].

Other Red Raider winners: Sophomore Jude Govern in the 200 [PR 23.55], senior Talon Fischer in the 400 [52.61]junior Kal Heyman in the 800 [PR 2:04.34], freshman Keenan Neuman in the 1,600 [4:40.74], senior Matt Hoffman in the 3,200 [9:31.12], junior Ryan Davis in the 110 highs [16.14] and 400 intermediates [1:01.61], junior Anthony Gasparovic [141-8 discus], junior Grady Hanson [44-3 shot put] and junior Anthony DeRose [132-3 javelin].

For Middle, junior Aidan Hippen won the 100 [PR 11.53] and sophomore Noah Nagle won the pole vault [10-6]

Egg Harbor graduate Michaela Pomatto broke the Stockton University discus record Thursday.

Then she broke it again. And then she broke it again.

Pomatto, a Stockton junior, had the series of her life on Day 2 of the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Championships in Cortland, N.Y., with three throws over 150 feet, including a 154-8 on her 5th attempt.

She solidified her already very good chances to qualify for the NCAA Division 3 Championships by moving up from 15th to 10th on the TFRRS performance list. The top 22 on the list qualify for nationals, scheduled for next Thursday through Saturday atg Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

When the spring season began, Stockton’s record was 147-5 by Clearview graduate Audra Schappell from 2005 in a meet that I’ve never been able to identify.

Pomatto broke that mark with a 149-3 on April 19 at the Paul Donahue Invitational at Widener University in Chester, Pa.

After throwing 139-7 and a near-PR 148-0 on her first two attempts Thursday, Pomatto broke the school record for the first time with a 150-6 on her 3rd throw. She topped it with a 151-9 on her 4th and then broke the record again with a 154-8 on her final attempt. She fouled on her 6th.

Senior Makenna King of St. John Fisher in Pittsford, N.Y., won the event with a 161-7 on her final throw even though Pomatto had three of the four-best throws in the competition.

King jumped from the No. 14 spot on the Track and Field Race Reporting Service list up to No. 4, but Pomatto is in a safe spot with the qualifying window ending at midnight Thursday.

Pomatto is now only five feet off the all-time N JAC record of 159-10 set by Rowan’s Kathy Darling of Milford, Del., in 2001, before she transferred to Johns Hopkins and became an NCAA Division 1 All-America.

Pomatto began her track career at Ursinus, where she set the school record of 130-4 at the 2022 Larry Ellis Invitational in Princeton.

Woodstown graduate Molly Lodge broke the nine-year-old Rowan University intermediate hurdles record Thursday afternoon.

Lodge, a Rowan junior, won the 400-meter hurdles at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Championships in Cortland, N.Y., in 1:01.33, breaking the record of 1:01.49 set by Melirah Searcy of Edison when she won the intermediates at the 2015 New Jersey Athletic Conference in Mahwah.

Lodge lowered her PR from 1:02.01 from last year’s NJAC Championships, also in Mahwah. Her 2024 season best was 1:02.26, which she ran last month at the Larry Ellis Invitational at Princeton Universitry’s Weaver Stadium.

Lodge was already in good shape as far as qualifying for the NCAA Division 3 Championhips. Her 1:02.26 ranked 13th, and the top 22 performers qualify for nationals. But her 1:01.33 moves her up to seventh on this year’s Division 3 list.

The NCAA Division 3 Championships are scheduled for next Thursday through Saturday at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Lodge never ran the intermediate hurdles at Woodstown or as a Rowan freshman. Her first intermediate hurdles race ever was just 14 months ago at the Washington & Lee Carnival in Lexington, Va., where she ran 1:04.46. By the end of May last year she had qualified for NCAAs and finished 17th in the country.

Lodge is already a three-time All-America as part of various Rowan relay teams. On Wednesday, she was the leadoff leg on Rowan’s 4-by-400, which ran 3:48.08, which is No. 10 in Division 3. The top 16 relay teams qualify for nationals.

Rancocas Valley’s shuttle hurdles team of juniors Cecilia King, junior Kaylie Peacock and Aniya Wilkins and senior Nevaeh Lott broke a 30-year-old Burlington County record Wednesday and ran the 7th-fastest time in South Jersey history.

R.V. won the varsity shuttle hurdles within the Red Devil Frosh/Novice & Varsity Relay Showcase on their home track in Mount Holly with a time of 1:01.59.

They broke the Burlington County record of 1:02.0 hand-timed set by Moorestown’s Shavonna Ross, Meredith Elwell, Liza Comila and Shaatich Rivers at the 1994 Long Branch Relays. Their time is fastest by a South Jersey school since Eastern ran 59.52 in 2019 at the Don Danser Relays at Lenape. Jailya Ash, Jewel Ash, Abigail Brocco and Analiese Bulgin ran on that team.

Winslow senior Dominique Clement, junior Ma’Syiah Brawner, senior Sierra Handy and senior Djassi Dean placed 2nd in 1:02.99, which is No. 17 in South Jersey history and No. 12 on the all-time Camden County list. It’s Winslow’s fastest time since they ran 1:00.18 at the 2014 Carl Lewis Relays at Willingboro.

ALL-TIME S.J. GIRLS SHUTTLE HURDLES
59.00 … Edgewood, 1999
59.52 … Eastern, 2019
59.79 … Pennsauken, 1999
1:00.14 … Buena, 2012
1:00.18 … Winslow Twp., 2014
1:01.17 … Woodrow Wilson, 2012
1:01.59 … Rancocas Valley, 2024
1:01.68 … Winslow Twp., 2002
1:01.6h … Woodrow Wilson, 2005
1:01.94 … Edgewood, 1998
1:02.0h … Moorestown, 1994
1:02.16 … Wilson, 2003
1:02.51 … Mainland Regional, 2018
1:02.59 … Paul VI, 2018
1:02.68 … Mainland Reg., 2018
1:02.86 … Edgewood, 2001
1:02.99 … Winslow Twp., 2024
1:03.62 … Absegami, 2017
1:03.70 … Lenape, 2008
1:03.73 … Highland, 1998
1:03.79 … Camden, 2015

Down to their final chance to qualify for NCAA Division 3 Nationals, Rowan’s 1,600-meter relay team – with three South Jersey legs – came up huge Wednesday at the AARTFC Championships in Cortland, N.Y.

Junior Molly Lodge of Woodstown, junior Jasmine Pope of Pennsauken, senior Kat Pederson from Hillsborough and junior Nevaeh Lorjuste from Triton ran 3:48.08 and placed 2nd to Rochester at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Championships. Rochester ran 3:47.72.

The Rowan women were ranked 26th in D-3 going into the race and only the top-16 teams in each relay qualify for nationals. But the 3:48.08 moved the Profs all the way up to 10th and an almost certain lane at nationals.

Rowan’s previous-fastest time this year was a 3:51.30 with Lodge, Pope, Pederson and Lorjuste at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships in Galloway Township earlier this month.

Rochester had already run 3:47.30 this spring, so Rowan leapfrogged 16 schools to move into the No. 10 spot on the TFRRS Division 3 list, which is used to determine the qualifiers for nationals. The AARTFC is essentially a last-chance meet. The qualifying deadline is the end of the day Thursday. As of now the qualifying cutoff for the 4-by-4 is 3:49.70, so Rowan made it by over a second and a half.

Lodge and Pope handled the first two legs for Rowan – three-turn stagger so no splits for their legs because you’d need a timing system for every lane – and then Pederson split 56.30 and Lorjuste 56.22.

The time is Rowan’s fastest in 10 years, since Jessalynn Wright of Cherokee, Jamie Thompson from South Brunswick, Tashay Wilson from Hillside and Melirah Searcy of Edison set the school record of 3:44.60 at the 2014 NCAA Division 3 Championships at Selby Stadium at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio (your humble scribe’s alma mater).

The NCAA Division 3 Championships are scheduled for next Thursday through Saturday at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The top 22 in each individual event qualify for nationals, and with less than a day before the qualifying cutoff Lodge is 13th in the 400-meter hurdles [1:02.26], Anna Sasse of Williamstown is 20th in the steeplechase [10:48.66] and Isabelle Deal of Washington Township is 12th in the shot put [45-8] and 15th in the javelin [135-8].

Also in the 4-by-4, The College of New Jersey ran 3:56.10 and placed 6th with freshman Kelsey Thomas running the 3rd leg.

https://tf.tfrrs.org/lists/4517/2024_NCAA_Division_III_Outdoor_Qualifying_List?gender=f#event33

Sophomore Xavier Bancroft, sophomore Julian Coppage-Seepersaud, junior David Smith and sophomore Thomas Howard Jr. broke the Burlington County 800-meter relay record and ran the 7th-fastest time in South Jersey history Wednesday on their home track in Mount Holly.

Pushed by Winslow, R.V. ran 1:27.43, which broke the Burlington County record of 1:27.75 set by Willingboro’s Akeem Adiatu, Antonio Abney, Daquon Brow and Jusson Boyd at 2007 Greensboro Nationals at North Carolina A&T.

It’s also fastest in New Jersey this year.

Winslow, with senior Kenneth Everett Jr., junior Jayden Poteat, senior Darrell Jackson Jr. and junior Cameron Miller, placed 2nd in 1:28.38. That’s No. 3 in New Jersey this year.

The 4-by-2 was one of a handful of varsity races held during a mostly freshman and novice meet – the Red Devil Frosh/Novice Finale and Varsity Relays.

Rancocas Valley’s previous school record was 1:28.23 set at the 2015 Woodbury Relays by JeSean Foster, Dyson Scott, Shaun Ellis-Bradley and Sterling Pierce.

Here’s the all-time South Jersey sub-1:28 list
1:24.49 … Winslow Twp., 2003
1:24.90 … Camden, 2004
1:26.05 … Camden, 2000
1:26.68 … Camden, 1997
1:26.74 … Pennsauken, 2023
1:27.38 … Paul VI, 2016
1:27.43 … Rancocas Valley, 2024
1:27.52 … Woodrow Wilson, 1996
1:27.66 … Oakcrest, 2011
1:27.68 … Pennsauken, 2016
1:27.69 … Oakcrest, 2012
1:27.74 … Pleasantville, 1994
1:27.75 … Willingboro, 2007
1:27.80 … Pleasantville, 1999
1:27.84 … Winslow Twp., 2002
1:27.90 … Winslow Twp., 2008
1:27.96 … Williamstown, 2015
1:27.98 … Camden, 2002

And the all-time Burlington County Top 10
1:27.43 … Rancocas Valley, 2024
1:27.75 … Willingboro, 2007
1:28.23 … Rancocas Valley, 2015
1:28.0h … Willingboro, 1979
1:28.40 … Cherokee, 2008
1:28.44 … Lenape, 1996
1:28.64 … Rancocas Valley, 2014
1:28.79 … Willingboro, 1999
1:28.6h … Willingboro, 1982
1:28.73 … Rancocas Valley, 2022

West Deptford’s Jacob Cobb, a sophomore at MIT, ran one of the fastest steeplechase times in South Jersey history Saturday in a meet in Williamstown. Mass.

Cobb shaved more than 14 seconds off his PR and nearly broke 9 minutes at the Farley Inter Regional Extravaganza at Williams College. He won the race in 9:00.17, winning by 35 meters over Amherst’s Ian Dopp, who was 2nd in 9:06.73.

His time is 5th-fastest ever by a South Jersey high school alum and breaks the Gloucester County alum record of 9:08.3, set 72 years ago by Woodbury Olympian Browning Ross at the 1952 Olympic Trials at Los Angeles Coliseum.

Cobb’s previous PR was 9:12.63 last month in Providence, R.I.

Cob’s time is No. 19 in NCAA Division 3 through Tuesday. The top 22 in each individual event qualify for the NCAA Division 3 Championships in Myrtle Beach, S.C., May 22-25, so Cobb appears to have a very good chance to race at nationals. He placed 29th out of 229 runners in NCAA Division 3 East Regionals in Hopkinton, N.H., in November – which MIT won – but didn’t run at nationals.

Unbelievably, MIT’s track web site not only doesn’t have an all-time top-10 list it doesn’t even list school records. They might be the only NCAA Division 1 school that doesn’t have school records on its web site.

Thanks to the Wayback Machine I found an old set of meet records and it turns out Cobb’s 9:00.14 is indeed MIT’s fastest time ever.

The previous record was 9:00.98 by current MIT sophomore Arroyo Pablo in May 2023 at the MIT Final Qualifier in Cambridge, Mass.

All-Time South Jersey Alumni Steeplechase List
8:38.94 … Sam Gerstenbacher [Schalick], May 20, 2022, New York
8:46.16 … Mike Ungvarsky [Cinnaminson], May 2022, Durham, N.C.
8:53.66 … Connor Herr [Shawnee], May 10, 2015, Philadelphia
8:56.15 … Terrance Armstrong [Camden], 1994
9:00.17 … Jacob Cobb [West Deptford], 2024, Williamstown, Mass.
9:04.63 … Greg Pelose [Haddonfield], May 4, 2019, Worcester, Mass.
9:05.48 … Louis Corgliano [Hammonton], March 30, 2018, Gainesville, Fla.
9:06.1h … Karl Savage [Eastern], May 16, 2005, Philadelphia
9:07.70 … Dave DeJong [Shawnee], 2001
9:08.3h … Browning Ross [Woodbury], June 28, 1952, Los Angeles
9:12.99 … Pat McCurry [Hammonton], April 28, 2016, Philadelphia
9:13.90 … Martin Suarez [Holy Cross], May 26, 2007,
9:13.93 … Andy Arnold [Bishop Eustace], May 6, 2012, Princeton, N.J.

Eastern’s Kadence Dumas ran the 6th-fastest 800 in University of Delaware history Saturday at the CAA Championships and became the fastest freshman in Blue Hens history.

Dumas lowered her PR from 2:10.44 down to 2:08.90 and placed 3rd at the Coastal Athletic Association Championships in Elon, N.C. She finished behind North Carolina A&T junior Fajr Kelly [2:06.72] and Northeastern senior Ava Duggan [2:08.53].

According to figures listed on TFRRS [Track and Field Race Reporting Service], her time is fastest by a CAA freshman in 11 years, since 2013, when Jocelyn Hubbard of Northeastern won the conference title at Towson in 2:10.39.

At Eastern, Dumas ran an all-time South Jersey No. 7 time of 2:10.44 this past June to become the first South Jersey girl to win the Meet of Champions in 24 years.

She ran 2:12.24 indoors at the Armory and then 2:10.45 in a meet in Charlottesville, Va., last month, missing her lifetime-best by 1-100th of a second.

This past weekend, she cruised to the 800 final at the CAA meet in 2:13.02 before destroying her PR in the final.

She became the fastest South Jersey alum on the all-time Delaware list, bumping Lenape graduate Carly Pettipaw , who ran 2:09.75 at the 2018 Towson (Md.) Invitational.

Dumas is the third South Jersey collegian under 2:10 this spring. Rutgers senior Shelby Whetstone from Lenape ran 2:05.81 in Ann Arbor this past weekend in the Big Ten Championships, and Maryland senior Kami Joi Hickson from Washington Township ran 2:08.15 in Azusa, Calif., last month.

Rancocas Valley’s Ian Moore PR’d in the 800 with the 6th-fastest time in Monmouth University history at the CAA Championships.

Moore placed 5th in 1:50.52 at the Coastal Athletic Association Championships at Elon, N.C. His previous PR was 1:50.81 from a meet a few weeks earlier in Charlottesville, Va.

Moore is one of three South Jersey half-milers on the all-time Monmouth 800 top-10 list. Kingsway’s Stone Caraccio ran 1:50.83 at Princeton in 2022 and Absegami’s Ford Palmer ran 1:51.01 at IC4A’s – also at Princeton – in 2013. They rank 6th, 7th and 9th in school history.

Caraccio and Cherokee grad Nico Grilli placed 5th and 7th in the 1,500, Caraccio with a near-PR 3:49.31 and Grilli with a PR 3:52.97. Caraccio ran slightly faster – 3:49.25 – in a meet at Bucknell in April 2022. They rank 8th and 10th in school history.

Caraccio is No. 4 in Monmouth history at 800 meters indoors with his 1:50.37 at IC4As in Boston but didn’t run the 800 at the outdoor conference meet.

Washington Township’s Kanye Mills, a freshman at Point Park University, an NAIA school in Pittsburgh, won both hurdles races at the recent River States Conference championships at Robert Morris in Moon Township outside Pittsburgh.

Mills won the 110-meter highs in a slightly wind-aided 14.40 and won the 400-meter hurdles in 54.70. Both are PRs, although Mills’ wind-legal highs PR over the 42-inch barriers is 14.70 from a meet in March in Morgantown, W. Va.

The 14.70 broke the school record listed at 15.25 by Delsea graduate and current Point Park senior Damir Lomax last April in a meet at Slippery Rock, Pa. The 54.70 is No. 2 in school history behind a 53.74 by Malcolm Harris at the 2018 River States Conference meet in Pittsburgh. Mills also won the 60-meter hurdles at the conference indoor meet in February in Logan, Ohio.

Lomax placed 3rd in the hurdles finals in 15.28, 3rd in the 100 in 22.43 and ran the 2nd leg on the Pioneers’ winning 400-meter relay team, which ran 42.54. Mills and Lomax both ran on the 2nd-place 4-by-4, which ran 3:21.20, finishing 1-100th of a second behind Indiana University Kokomo.

Lomax was the 2021 River States indoor conference champ in the 60-meter highs and 400 and 2022 outdoor winner in the 100, 2023 indoor hurdles winner. He’s long jumped 22-5 for Point Park but did not long jump this spring.

Mills ran 14.54 over the 39-inch high school hurdles for Washington Township and 54.95 in the intermediates.

On the 2024 NAIA performance list, Mills ranks 17th in the 110 highs. There is literally nowhere on the NAIA track web site that says how many people qualify for the nationals, scheduled for May 22-24 at Indiana Wesleyan in Marion, Ind.

There are a couple other South Jersey athletes on Point Park’s track team. Senior Nasir Galloway of Woodbury placed 10th in the shot put at 42-10 ¼ and freshman Xavier Tolliver of Willingboro was 5th in the triple jump at 42-0 ½ and 11th in the long jump with a 20-1 ½.